The past couple decades have seen dramatic advances in computer technology, and Jason Showalter strives to grow right along with it.  Showalter, a native of Mechanicsburg, Pa., is a communications major at Penn State Capital College.  He recalled playing Atari games at the age of five.  His first computer was a Commodore 64 that he had in first grade. By second grade, he had a Nintendo system.

Showalter, 23, now works with the latest advances in personal computer (PC) and Macintosh technology.  “It’s gone up the whole way, it’s like a stepladder,” he said.  He prefers to work with PCs because they are customizable, have more options, and cost less.

If the job title “computer surgeon” existed, Showalter would be well qualified for it.  He said that at age 16 he became interested in the “guts” of the computer.  “I can resuscitate a computer after it’s ‘dead,’ from hardware to software.”

Showalter has also witnessed much progress in Internet technology.  He can remember barely a decade ago when the Internet first came into the public realm. Back then, there was only text on web pages, there were no graphics. Today it is much different.  “It was like a whole different world, I was able to experience the evolution of the Internet,” he said.

Showalter’s interest in computers helps him keep up with his other main interest, weather.  He became interested in weather after watching the blizzard of 1993 on The Weather Channel and from many camping trips.  “I loved guessing where the storm was by looking at it on the radar,” he said.  “The feeling that you get when you see a thunderstorm on the horizon is what really intrigues me about the weather.”

Showalter said that the Internet is a great tool for research.  He has signed up for an online national weather service and logs on to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).  He said that the NOAA allows real-time access to weather data.

These interests factor into Showalter’s future.  He would like to purchase a small weather station, hook it up to his computer, and transmit live weather data over the Internet for Mechanicsburg.  “I just think it would be cool to have my own weather station,” he said.